ABUA-Great Britain
8th Annual General Meeting
20 January 2007 at Upper Heyford
MINUTES
Darrin Muller, Thomas Haywood, Eddie Fannon, Henry Chmielewski, Geoff Hare, Jacob Plieth, James Norman, Ted Gerard-Thesingh, Petter Nordwall, Jeremy Neads, Stephen Stewart
Ed Edsall, BJ Delorenzo, Ray Brownlie, Russ Cass, Brian Lakin, Spencer Suckling, Margaret Borley
Proposed as a true record by Jacob Plieth. Seconded by Thomas Haywood. Motion carried.
TG asked if Ian Smyth was still in charge of CRB Checks as he no longer worked for BSUK. DM to contact BSUK and find out who is in charge of the CRB Checks.
JP (14.G) informed the membership that he had handed the control of the web to Thomas Haywood and that he was no longer in charge as per paragraph 14G.
JN (14F) informed the membership that he had been co-opted onto the Board as the Treasurer due to a change of mind after the 2007 AGM.
TG asked if any new awards had been created after EF raised the issue during the 2007 AGM. DM informed the membership that No actual awards had been added but the Umpires that excelled were rewarded by the selection to the Final 4 squad. DM also explained that this did not prevent further awards being added in the future. JP added that as we were such a small organization adding more awards could devalue the Ted Gerard-Thesingh award that is awarded each year.
DM informed the membership that the only correspondences received were those of apologies for non attendance listed in section 2.
DM thanked the membership for all the hard work they put in over the 2007 season. He added that the umpires did not let fact that several experienced umpires had retired at the end of 2006 or that the membership was at it lowest for several years keep them from getting the job done.
ABUA-GB Membership was 24. In 2007 74 of 90 games were umpired in the North with 30 of those with a 2 man team. This number would have been higher had it not been for a few teams refusing to accept umpires. In the South the Inter league play stretched the umpires due to there only being 6 registered umpires in the South. All 16 national league games were covered, 14 of those with a 2 man team. 49 Inter League, 24 Premier Division, 2 Division 1, and 1 Division 2 games were also covered.
The Youth Final 4 was also covered by the South. The organization also assisted the International Schools League by providing umpires for 32 games and trained approximately 40 new youth umpires. 6 Umpires were provided for the Final 4, 2 from the North and 4 from the South. 1 Umpire attended the German Open and another umpired at the Cadet European qualifier in Italy.
DM also praised the hard work of the 2 new Area Supervisors, Thomas Haywood and Petter Nordwall.
JN outlined the 2007 income (£3,051.80) and expenditure (£2,310.18), which together with the previous year’s balance gave us a current balance of £ 1,991.78.
JN pointed out that we had not received the 2007 grant from the BBF and Croydon had not sent monies from the 2007 London Tournament. JP informed JN that it was not unusual for these to arrive late.
DM informed the membership that he was in talks with the BBF and BSUK over the grant. He said the monies had been promised from Geof Ellingham (BSUK Chairman), it was just a matter of how the monies were going to be passed onto the ABUA-GB.
TG proposed the accounts as a true record, seconded by EF. Motion was carried.
DM informed the membership that Secretary’s position was currently vacant as TH had steeped down during the year. TH added that he had stepped down as he didn’t feel the board had appreciated all the work that he and Ray Brownlie had put into the creation of a new website. DM informed the membership that ABUA-GB had held talks with Mr Brownlie over ownership rights to contents on the organizations web page, and that as both parties could not agree terms, the web page remained in it’s current form, and that this situation had ended amicably. DM thanked TH and RB for all of their hard work.
North : TH explained about the difficulties that had arisen due to a few teams in the North not agreeing to scheduled umpires or refusing umpires as they felt travel costs were too high. He said the high travel cost were due to the great distances between venues. TH said that the North were very lucky with the high number of umpires they had in 2007. He also briefed the membership on the success of the Northern Clinic due to holding it in conjunction with a tournament, this allowed umpires to experience true game situations. He added that they had divided the clinic into 2 groups, 1 of complete beginners and the other of experienced umpires, this allowed each group to receive maximum training.
South: PN said the number of umpires in the South was extremely low, 6 men had covered the majority of the games. He said that the numbers had to increase as the workload is great. He added that 63 of the 92 games covered were 1 man crew and the other 29 were 2 man, 1 of those actually have 3 umpires. He thanked all the umpires for their hard work, he also thanked TH for assisting with umpires from the North on a few occasions.
DM thanked both Area Supervisor’s for the great job they did in 2007.
DM said the number 1 priority for 2008 was to increase the number of umpires. He added that the Training Supervisor Position was open and this need to be filled so that further training could be organized. The Board would look into the possibility of holding a Southern Clinic if an appropriate facility could be found.
***The meeting broke for 10 minutes***
DM recommended they remain at £35. It was decided that the Board would review and inform the membership of any agreement, but it would probably remain
DM informed the membership that the current fees had been the same since they were reduced in 2002. He recommended an increase of £1 across the board on the current pay scale. The Board agreed to review and inform the membership of it’s decision, but felt that an increase was needed.
DM informed the membership that he had not received any motions other than the current board for any positions on the Board. He asked if there was anyone that wished to stand for any position. HC said he would like to run for Treasurer, but this was not proposed by anyone on the floor, so nomination failed. TG said he would stand for the Secretary Position, this was proposed by TH and Seconded by PN. TG proposed that the current Board re-elected as they were running un-opposed. This was seconded by GH. Elected Unanimously.
The Board for 2008 is:
Commissioner – Darrin Muller
Secretary – Ted Gerard-Thesingh
Treasurer – James Norman
Northern Supervisor – Thomas Haywood
Southern Supervisor – Petter Nordwall
Training Supervisor – Position Open
DM to hold talks with Ray Brownlie who as expressed an interest in the Training Supervisor position.
DM informed the membership that the Ted Gerard-Thesingh award for 2007 had been awarded to Geoff Hare. He said that GH had improved greatly as an umpire over the past 12 months, and stepped up to fill the hole after the retirement of several top umpires. DM also said that GH was now ready for the next step and that he would be put forward in 2008 for CEB Qualification. The award was presented to GH by Ted Gerard-Thesingh.
DM said that there was 2 umpires who were in the running for the Ted Gerard-Thesingh awarded that should be praised. Firstly he said that Eddie Fannon had improved to a very high standard in 2007 and this was in part to Eddie having attended the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring at the end of 2006. DM also praised the efforts of rookie Umpire Ray Brownlie, he said he was very impressed by his composure on the field and it was a privilege working with him. DM expressed that these 2 gentlemen were rewarded with their hard work by their selection to the Umpire Crew for the 2007 National Championships.
DM also wanted to recognise Thomas Haywood for his tireless work in bringing the Jim Evans Academy to Europe. The first Jim Evans European Academy will be held in April 2008 in France. Thomas was able to accomplish something that many European countries and even MLB were not able achieve. DM added that he had been contacted by MLB asking for information on the clinic.
TH – Held a free raffle of umpire gifts he had received when at the Jim Evans Academy.
TG – wanted to thank the board for all of its hard work in 2007.
* * * Meeting closed at 15:54 * * *